Who Will Be the Next Victim of the Grand Bounce? A nonpartisan, nonjudgmental look at the “Hair-Trigger” Form of Government

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Tennessee: Crossville approves charter amendment to vote on recall that petitioners would have to pay for

Crossville City Council has approved a charter amendment, to be voted on in November, putting in a recall for City Council members. The Tennessee General Assembly has to approve the law (as with other charter changes).

The recall is a tough one: Petitioners would need 33% (my guess would be that it is probably 33 1/3%) of registered voters simply to get on the ballot, and then the recall would have to win with 66% of the vote (again, guessing that it is 2/3rds, or 66 2/3%). The petitioners apparently have to pay for the recall:

The original proposal was for the petitioner to post a cash bond for the estimated cost of the recall ballot measure and, if the vote was successful, the petitioner would have their cash bond returned. Based on the vote by council, the petitioner will be charged for the ballot measure no matter which way the vote turns out.

The recall came from a proposal from Councilman Pete Souza's to have a “confidence vote” put on the May ballot.